Waiting
by ElizabethAnne1
Summary: How much courage does it take to talk to THAT guy? Stephanie is about to find out. AU because I suck at writing straight canon. M for language and lovin', and as always, Babe.
1. Chapter 1

**So, I really wanted to post this yesterday in its entirety, but it was my birthday and I just could not get the ending finished. That plus this being one of the most stressful weeks I've ever had, today's update of Inconceivable may not be posted before I leave for work at 3:30. It's 90% done, but I have a habit of over-editing. Fingers crossed it'll be done.**

**In the meantime I give you this little bit of silliness. This is for my work family, who make my actual job bearable. They're not too thinly veiled in here ;-) I love you guys!**

SPOV

"He's here again." Annemarie whispered.

I spun around, "Where?" Panic and excitement flushing through me.

"He's at the hostess stand."

I smoothed my hand over my ponytail to see if it was still semi-neat, glancing in the big gilded mirror on the wall, I groaned. I looked exactly how I felt. Exhausted. I had been up studying all damn night. I had mid-terms all next week and while I loved my classes, taking Calculus 3, organic chemistry and physics all in the same semester might've been a mistake. Now I had huge bags under my eyes and I looked a little like a Walking Dead cast member. Would it have killed me to spend thirty seconds putting mascara on?

"Mary won't seat him in my station. She knows I can't talk to him." No joke, that "he" was so damn gorgeous I couldn't even muster up the guts to say hello. One time, he was being seated at a table as I hustled past with a heavily laden tray. Custom dictated that I at least nod in greeting, but I had glanced up just as we passed each other, my mouth was already open, my automatic salutation half-formed. The words died on my tongue when I realized it was him and I blushed to the roots of my hair, it took all of my concentration to keep my tray on my shoulder and not let it slide to the frigging floor.

I turned away as Mary approached him, menu in hand. Once he was sitting I would entertain myself for the duration of his meal with surreptitious glances in his direction.

I almost spilled the coffee I was pouring for table 54 when Annemarie bumped my hip with hers and murmured, "Uh-oh."

I bent and grabbed some little milks for the coffee, "What?"

"Guess where she put him?"

My stomach knotted. "If your next words are 'in your station', I'm leaving and you can have my tables."

She grinned, "Then I'm not going to tell you he's in your station."

Donna walked past and interjected, "If you don't want him, I'll take him." She was famous for trying to scam everyone else's tables, regardless of the attractiveness of the customers sitting there.

I looked down at the scalding hot coffee in my hand and debated the wisdom of throwing it at her.

Probably best not to get arrested today.

Kelly chose that moment to wander out of the kitchen and joined us. She looked at my face and out at my station. "Uh-oh, Steph. Eye-Candy's here and sitting at your table," she smirked.

"Thanks Kell, I had no idea." I muttered sarcastically, swallowing hard against the butterflies trying to surge up my esophagus.

I stiffened my spine, grabbed my table's coffee and brought it over to them. He was right there, sitting in the next booth. My Eye-Candy. He'd been coming in for early dinner twice a week for the last month, and I ogled him shamelessly every damn time… and now I had to put enough coherent words together to take his order.

This was going to be really embarrassing.

"Are you guys going to have dessert today?" I asked my regulars, Tony and Angela.

"No sweetheart, it's Andy's birthday, we're going over there for cake."

"It is?" I asked them stalling, I could feel Eye-Candy staring at me. "How old is he now?" Andy was their grandson and I'd been waiting on these two since before their daughter had even gotten married.

"He's seven," Angela replied.

"Wow already? Next time, bring him in, I'll buy him dessert."

"We will, he asks for you every time we go past the restaurant."

"Aw, I love that kid. He's going to be such a heartbreaker." They laughed and accepted the check I handed them.

I sucked in a deep breath and tried to will my heart beat down from the stratosphere. Turning, I plastered a smile on my face and shuffled the three feet to his table.

"Hello," I managed to get out, my eyes firmly on his clasped hands atop his menu. "How are you?" Unh, my face was probably bright red and my ears were definitely burning.

"I'm well," came his deep reply.

_WHY? Why does he have to be this fucking gorgeous and use proper English?_

The weirdest shit turned me on.

"And you?"

"I'm great." I squeaked.

_Fuck!_

I cleared my throat, if I just kept looking at his fingers and not his face, I might just get through this… his long fingers on his big hands, attached to perfectly muscled forearms, covered with gorgeous, deep olive-toned skin.

_What was I doing? Drink! Ask him what he wants to drink!_

I cleared my throat again and asked those hands, "What would you like to drink?"

"Chianti and water, please?" His voice was smooth and he sounded amused, but I didn't have the courage to look directly at him yet.

"Sure I'll get you some bread too." I took off for the kitchen like my ass was on fire.

Tugging my phone out of my apron, I sent Mary a quick text.

_**I thought we were friends? What the fuck? **_She was very well aware of how I felt about Eye-Candy. I can't believe she'd put him at my table.

I was slicing his bread when the phone buzzed in my pocket.

_**Right now I'm your manager. Suck it up buttercup. That was the only place I could put him with the reservations coming in. And stay off your phone, you're supposed to be working!**_

"Ugh!" I groaned disgustedly.

"Steph, just tell him you want to slob his knob already," Kelly said with her trademark cackle, propping her ass on the counter next to me. "He's not going to say no. Right, Danny?"

The chef nodded his agreement. "There's not a single guy I know that'll turn it down."

"Steph, seriously, I don't know why you just can't speak to him." Robin said as she filled her table's drinks, "I had him the other day and he was very nice, and if I didn't have my sexy husband at home, I'd fuck him in a heartbeat."

I couldn't help but laugh, we were a crass bunch, but I adored my work family. "Guys, I can't even look at his face, I don't think I'll be able to offer him a blowjob."

"Honey, please." Kelly said with a snort, "I'm positive you'd have no problem looking at his other head!" Everyone cracked up, but I had to agree with her. I had spent quite a bit of my rare free time thinking about him naked since first laying eyes on him. Some of that free time had involved BOB, my trusty vibrator… which, come to think of it, was probably why I couldn't look this total stranger in the eye.

"Alright, give her a break you guys," Annemarie chimed in, breezing through with salads. "We'll do this when he leaves." She chuckled her way out the door and I tried to get myself calm.

I never had confidence issues and I was never shy, but there was just something about this guy that inspired that in me.

_He's just a guy. A gorgeous, tall, perfect guy, but just a guy._

I made the mistake of looking at him as soon as I walked out of the kitchen, immediately getting caught staring. I wrestled my eyes away from his and put his bread and water down, whispering, "I'll be right back." I walked weak-kneed to the bar, fighting the need to whimper in self-pity. Sarah granted me no reprieve, she had already poured his wine and it was waiting for me when I got there.

_Fuck._

I trudged back over to his table, placing the glass on a napkin in front of him, I asked, "Have you decided?"

"Yes, what's your name?"

_Oh no! Please don't let him be one of those people. _

You know, they're the ones who then use your name incessantly, 'Stephanie, can I have more napkins?', 'Stephanie, can I have more bread?', 'Stephanie, this fra diavolo sauce is amazing!', 'Stephanie this, Stephanie that.' It gets old, quickly.

"Stephanie," I replied quietly. "What would you like to have?"

He cleared his throat and I automatically looked at him.

_So beautiful._

"Hello Stephanie, I'd like a salad and the salmon." He smiled and I felt my 'server' smile fade and a real, albeit shy, smile take its place. Up close he was fucking dazzling. He was about my age, with thick black hair, cut short, large deep brown eyes framed by long, almost feminine lashes. His cheekbones and jaw were all sharp angles and his lips were so full and soft looking that I could feel my own pout slightly. That square jaw was covered in stubble that looked just long enough to tickle any skin he might kiss. He was dressed all in black, his shirt snug enough to display very impressive musculature and if his eyes weren't as amused as they were, he would be incredibly intimidating.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, in a daze. I clapped my hand to my forehead, "Sorry, I heard you. House and the salmon. I got it, I'll be right back."

I was so flustered it took me three tries to enter my server number into the computer and order his food. You wouldn't know I'd been doing this job since high school by how ridiculously I was acting.

"You okay?" Annemarie asked, wrapping her table's food.

I shook my head, "No one person should look like that. It's not fair to the rest of the human race."

"You ain't kidding, he's freaking hot," Kelly concurred.

I grabbed his salad from Chino, our salad guy, and brought it over, settling it in front of him. "Would you like some more?" I asked pointing to the now empty bread basket.

"Yes, please." Manners too!

The basket was on the far side of his table and when I leaned over to grab it, my right breast very slightly brushed against his shoulder.

_Woops! Guess I was standing closer than I thought! But goddamn he smells good. _

"You okay?" He asked reaching for it at the same time.

"Yes," I said taking the basket from him. "Why?"

"You made a noise like you were hurt."

_Fuck, I thought that whimper had been in my head._

I nodded emphatically, "I'm fine." This time I walked away slowly, determined to show that he wasn't freaking me out. As I approached the kitchen I saw Kelly and Annemarie grinning widely, waiting for me to reach them before they practically ran into the kitchen after me. We were a subtle bunch weren't we?

"Ohhhhhh, Steph, he watched your ass all the way back here. It's a good thing you're wearing those pants today." Actually, these were my only clean work pants left. The constant studying hadn't left me with any laundry time. Wait, what?

I dismissed that as I grabbed my salad, "No he wasn't." Seriously, why would he be looking at _my _ass? They sighed heavily and exchanged long suffering looks. Fine, maybe I did have a bit of a confidence issue. I shrugged my shoulders and brought him more bread.

_Shit, I did it again._

"Sorry," I whispered, completely mortified. He'd definitely noticed this time.

Well, the rest of me was embarrassed, but my right boob was ecstatic.

As I backed away, the edge of my apron snagged his knife, and it was all pure disaster from there, his knife spun and nudged the stem of his wine glass, his hand shot out to stop the glass from toppling and his elbow caught his water glass and it immediately tumbled over and splashed all over his pants and shirt.

"Fuuuucccckk," I breathed, "I'm so sorry." I stood there paralyzed, petrified that my crush might start yelling at me.

"It's okay, it was my fault. Do you have a towel?" He asked calmly, dabbing at himself with a napkin. I sped around the corner and grabbed the roll of paper towels. As if the situation wasn't mortifying enough, now my eyes were getting a bit swimmy. I hadn't spilled anything on anyone in years and _this _is the guy that I fuck up on?

I whipped off some towels from the roll and started blotting at him, he backed away slightly, grabbing my wrist. "Whoa, babe, you want to go _there_ you're going to have to take me on a date first." I gaped at him and then looked at where my hand was just about to land, the hand that was still hovering about an inch from his crotch. I dropped the towel and finally backed away.

"Jesus, I'm so sorry." If I thought I was blushing before, it was nothing to now, my ears felt like they were actually on fire.

He was concentrating on drying his lap, thankfully not looking at me. "It's only water, not a big deal."

"I'll get you some more." I grabbed his cup, wiped the last of the spill from the table and disappeared through the kitchen doors again. I went straight to the hand sink in the corner and splashed some water on my face and tried not to let the embarrassed tears flow. In general, this was an incredibly high stress job, every one of us at one time or another had had a mini breakdown in here. I just couldn't remember the last time it had happened to me.

I got my shit together after a few sympathetic pats on the back from my girls and managed to get him through the rest of his meal without any further damage to his person. He was very nice about the whole thing, telling me to forget about it and to stop apologizing, that it was his fault to begin with. I just couldn't get over it.

He was even a good tipper, leaving me 25%. More than likely he pitied me for sucking at my job so badly and left me a big tip to make up for the shitty ones someone of my caliber would typically receive.

I sighed and leaned back against the counter of our server's station, watching him stand and throw his jacket on. Annemarie and Kelly flanking me. They sighed too. "You could really hang onto those shoulders couldn't you?" I asked them. Seriously, he had these really sexy, broad shoulders. Coupled with the rest of his strong looking body, I couldn't help but think that he'd have no problem holding me up against a wall.

"Uh-huh," they agreed.

He looked our way and caught us staring, we all promptly turned and pretended to be busy.

"Really, we could become spies, we're so fucking covert," I muttered.

At least we managed to laugh through the rest of our shift.

**AN: I have about 8,000 more words of this written out. So, if there's any interest in what happens next, I could be convinced to post more tomorrow or Monday. At any rate, I really like this Stephanie, she's a lot stronger than she gives herself credit for.**

**I'm off to work on Inconceivable now, let me know what you thought of this. Hopefully it put a little smile on your face.**

**Thanks for reading,**

**Love,**

**EA xoxo**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, you guys asked for it, you can have some more. This is 99% in SPOV, because that's how I'm hearing it. I could, however, be convinced to throw a Ranger update in there if you really want ;-)**

**They're not mine. I just like to play with them. **

More than a week later, I was still cursing myself. He hadn't come back, at least not while I was there and I know if I wasn't, whoever was working would've told me. The level of dismay I was feeling at his sudden disappearance was utterly ridiculous. Seriously, I was on tenterhooks every time the door to the restaurant opened.

At least I had destroyed my midterms. I had made Dean's list for the last three and a half years and my final semester of undergrad promised to be as successful as all the others.

I was at the hostess stand chatting with Mary about my impending graduation and whether or not I should walk in the ceremony when I felt someone behind me. I turned already asking, "How many?" but all I got out was "How ma…" It was him, my Eye-Candy, and again, he stole my words.

He quirked an eyebrow and smiled, "One." Mary tried to hide her smirk and failed abysmally she grabbed a menu and told him to follow her. She was half-way across the restaurant when he said something to her and she changed directions and stopped in my station.

What the fuck? That's it, no way was I campaigning for co-worker contributions for her Christmas gift this year. I was pissed at her. I glared at her as she walked back over to me. "Did you really just do that?" I waved my arm around the completely empty restaurant. "There's nowhere else you could've gone to?"

She rolled her eyes, "You need to get over this. He asked for you. What am I supposed to say when it looks like this? 'Sorry, she doesn't have anything available.' Go." She gave me a little shove, "Take care of your customer."

"Why am I closing for you again?" I was doing a favor for her tonight. I had agreed to do all the closing procedures so she could go out with her husband. And if it worked out, I would be closing one night a week for her from then on.

She shook her head, "Just don't spill anything on him this time."

I stomped off to the kitchen, secretly elated that he was back. She was right though, I did need to get over this. I was cutting bread when I had a brilliant idea, so brilliant I couldn't suppress a grin when I brought his bread and water to his table. He looked up when I was halfway there, caught my expression and mirrored it.

I put everything down before him and he chuckled. "Pre-emptive strike?" He asked pointing to the lidded kid's cup of water I'd given him.

"Something like that, yes." Yep, he was still gorgeous in case you were wondering. "Chianti again?"

"Please."

I was back with it in a minute, "Are you ready, or do you need a minute?"

He shook his head, "The salad and the salmon again, please."

Really? We have a huge menu and he chooses the same thing again, the seasoned waitress in me couldn't let that slide. "We just got in some swordfish that looks fantastic, want to change it up a little bit?"

"Maybe next time, I was thinking about that salmon for the last week and a half," he said, smiling up at me.

"You should've come in then, I thought I ran you off."

"I was away on business." He held my eyes for a beat, "You noticed I wasn't here?"

_Fuck, busted._

"Umm, let me go get your salad."

One day I'll manage to get through an entire encounter with him without feeling foolish.

I dropped his salad off and he stopped me before I could scurry away. "I think you should walk."

"What?"

"In your graduation, I think you should walk."

"How do you…"

"When I came in, you were talking about it." Ordinarily I would be annoyed that anyone was putting their two cents in, but I'd been asking pretty much everyone this very question all day. "Where do you go to school?" He asked.

"Rutgers." I looked around, yep, still no other tables. "That's why I'm not sure, our graduating class is around 17,000 students. It's going to take hours."

"You worked hard to finish, right? I'm sure your parents," he glanced at my left hand, "and your boyfriend want to see you get your diploma. You should walk."

I nodded, my mom and dad would like that. Wait, did he just say 'boyfriend'? "My parents would love it. No boyfriend though, I work thirty-six hours a week and I'm a double major in Bio and Chem. Between labs, lectures and work I have about four hours a night to sleep. I have zero time for dating."

_Did I really just tell him all of that? Can we go back to me barely being able to speak to him?_

He looked me up and down, not lecherously, just appreciatively. "That's a shame," he said softly.

Was he flirting with me? Nah, no way. I backed away a little discombobulated, "Alright, eat up, your salmon will be out in a few."

He smiled and pulled his plate towards him. "Yes, ma'am."

I wandered away and over to the bar, where Kelly was wiping down her shelves. I relayed our conversation in muted whispers and she concurred, he was flirting. Again encouraging me to just tell him I wanted to 'suck his cock' already.

I escaped that fate by the appearance of a party of fifteen, who kept me so busy I wasn't able to talk to him beyond inquiring how his dinner was and if he wanted dessert afterwards. He didn't, but he nursed his wine for a while. I could feel his eyes on me as I worked, it didn't disconcert me as much as I thought it would.

After serving the third tray of food to my party, I grabbed the tray from its stand and swiveled to bring it back to the kitchen, only to come face-to-face, well, face-to-neck, with him. His hands shot out and landed on my waist as I wobbled and tried not to fall over backwards, the empty tray crashing noisily to the floor. He pulled me closer to counteract my backwards trajectory and I was right there, being held firmly against the front of his body.

_Mmmm, he smells so good. _

At least now, both boobs had had the pleasure of touching him, and my stomach, and the front of my thighs, and oh, my hands got to wrap around the back of his thick arms. I know I whimpered out loud this time.

He held me there for a beat too long before slowly releasing me and backing up half a step.

"Th, th, thanks," I stuttered. "I seem to be a bit calamitous around you."

"No problem." He grinned big and bent to pick up the tray. "See you soon?" He asked, handing the tray over.

I really hope so. "Yes," I said breathlessly. I stepped aside so he could pass and he brushed against me as he did, sending a bolt of heat through me.

Geez, I really needed to get laid. Clearly it had been too long if I got excited over him catching me and his arm touching mine.

Five hours later I was bolting the door behind the last of the customers. All the staff had skedaddled twenty minutes ago and it was so strange to be here completely alone. I shut off the last of the lights in the dining room and went into the office to count out for the night. It was a Saturday and had been an unusually big cash night, so it took me slightly longer than anticipated to get through it all, $6,000 in total.

I locked it all in the safe, grateful that I didn't have to deposit it tonight. This town had a very low crime rate, but I couldn't get excited about carrying that much money with me.

Grabbing the post-it note with the new security code on it, I made my way through the darkened bar to the keypad. We had had a new system installed two weeks ago and I fumbled with the buttons for a second. Finally entering them correctly, the keypad started a loud beeping, letting me know I had thirty seconds to get out of the building before the system armed. I hustled through the foyer and made it to the main door before I realized that I had left the damn keys on the bench under the keypad. Cursing, I ran back and tried to disarm the system, to no avail. It armed and the motion detectors immediately picked me up.

_Fuck!_

The cacophonous wailing started instantly. After ten seconds of trying to shut the damn thing up, I saw the diode on the phone light up, indicating a call was incoming.

I grabbed it from its cradle. "Hello?" I yelled over the clanging alarm.

I could just make out the caller's words, "Rangeman security, can I have your code-word. please?"

I held up the post-it still clutched in my palm, Mary hadn't written it down. Shit! "I don't know!" I said through gritted teeth. "I was just trying to close up. I don't usually close. The code won't work!"

"Ma'am, we have a car in the area. They'll be with you in a minute," he told me and disconnected.

I sent Mary a text letting her know what happened in case she got a phone call. The restaurant owner was on vacation in Italy, so at least I didn't need to worry about him being woken up in the middle of the night.

And I waited out the longest two minutes of my life.

I waited with my hands over my ears, anxiously glancing out the front window, hoping that I would still have ear drums left by the time they got here. I was just about to say 'fuck it' and go outside to wait, when headlights flashed as they turned into the driveway. Two shiny dark SUVs pulled up and two men jumped out. I hurried back through the foyer to let them in. Throwing back the bolt, I staggered back as they stalked in calling out "Rangeman security."

Tired of trying to make them out in the dark, I flicked the lights on and turned back to them, pulling up short.

It was Eye-Candy, what the hell?

His tense posture relaxed, and he smiled before heading to the keypad as I followed, his partner taking up the rear. If I thought Eye-candy was big, his size was nothing to the mountain of a man that was behind me.

Eye-Candy entered an override code and silenced the alarm, but a reverberating echo still gonged in my ears.

"Geez, that was frigging loud," I told him.

He grinned, "Yeah, that's the point."

"Ranger, do you want me to sweep?" Man-mountain asked him.

"Might as well," he replied. His partner nodded and moved off.

We watched him disappear through the kitchen doors. "It's just me here, I set it off accidentally and the code wouldn't work," I explained, showing him the post-it.

He glanced at it, "That's because there's two different codes, one to set and one to disarm."

"Really?" He nodded.

You see? Not one single encounter without being embarrassed.

His partner ambled past us, checked the office and joined us again. "All clear, Ranger, need me anymore?"

"Thanks Tank, no. I got it from here, head home." Tank smiled, nodded to me and slipped out the door.

"Ranger?"

"Actually, it's Carlos Manoso." He extended his hand to me, I gripped it and he shook gently.

"In that case, I'm hoping that 'Tank' is a nickname too, I mean it fits him, but wow, it's not a great name."

He laughed out loud, "It is, but he'd kill me if I told you his real one." He looked around us. "Why are you here all alone?"

"Closing. I'm usually out of here much earlier, but I was doing a favor for Mary."

"That's not the safest thing, Stephanie."

I shrugged, "Someone's got to do it. Can I set it now?"

"Yeah."

I crossed the room to the light switches and flipped them off. It was hard to see by the one emergency light left on and I, again, bumped into him.

_Fine, I did it on purpose, happy?_

Hopefully he couldn't see my satisfied smile as I felt his hands firmly around my waist.

"You know, we keep meeting like this…" He said quietly, pulling me a bit closer.

"Yeah, I know," I agreed.

We stood there like that for a beat, neither moving, wishing so much that I had the guts to do… something. I finally backed away and shakily set the alarm. I grabbed the keys and smiled when I felt his hand wrap around mine as he walked us through the foyer. He stood close as I locked the door behind us.

"Where's your car?" He asked.

"It's across the street," I gestured to the dark parking lot a couple of hundred yards away. "I forgot to move it closer."

"We're going to have to have a chat about personal safety measures." He beeped his swanky SUV unlocked. "Hop in. I'll take you over there."

I arched a brow at him. "And yet, you want me to get in a car with a virtual stranger?"

He held up our hands, still clasped. "I seem to have your trust."

"Yeah, I guess you do."

The funny thing was, he really did inspire my trust. My initial bashfulness had faded into something else. He was still dazzling to look at, but I was starting to get the picture of who he was, rather than just what he looked like, and I really liked it.

I looked at the logo emblazoned on his jacket, I hadn't noticed it before. "Wait, Rangeman? Ranger? It's your company?"

"Yes," he said without elaborating. "Have a seat." He opened the passenger door of his truck, waving me in.

I sat on the pristine seat of the beautiful car, suddenly self-conscious that I probably stunk of chicken parm and garlic. He hopped in and smiled at me before starting it up and backing out. "I'm sorry if I stink. I've been stuck in that building for," I checked my watch, 11:45. "Wow, nearly thirteen hours now."

"You don't stink, you smell nice," he insisted. I rolled my eyes at his obvious lie. "You always work that much?"

"No, I mean, I'm always there late, but I usually have class earlier in the day. It's spring break right now. So I figured I might as well work some extra shifts."

He laughed a little, "What? Didn't feel like hitting Miami Beach or Cancun?"

"I'm a bit old for that. Nope, so far I haven't had to take any student loans, which I'm pretty proud of, I try not to spend too much money."

He nodded, "I've heard how much Rutgers tuition is lately, that's quite an achievement." He pulled up next to my car in the deserted parking lot. "Do you always park all the way over here?" He looked around at the bookstore we all parked by, closed and empty. "This isn't the best thing for a woman alone at night, Steph."

I shrugged, "Our parking lot is really tiny, and we park here so we're not taking up spots. I meant to bring my car over earlier, but I was busy with tables and I wasn't able to."

"Yeah, we're definitely going to be having a conversation about personal safety next time." Next time? "And what do you mean, you're too old to go lay on a beach for spring break? You're what? 24?"

"Ha! No, try 28. I took some time off after high school to work and save, and I kind of got stuck in a rut for a while." I shrugged my shoulders, "it's amazing how time gets away from you when you're not paying attention."

He took off his seatbelt and turned to face me. "You seem like you're doing well at school though. That's something when you're working so much."

"I guess, it's not like I own my own security firm," I said pointing to the emblem on his jacket. "Thanks for helping me out, I appreciate it. Your wine is on me next time." I hopped out and dug my keys out. "I'll see you soon, or are you going away again?"

His smile grew, "Why? Would you miss me?"

And there goes that blush again. At least it was dark out, he probably couldn't see.

"Um…" I might've been significantly more comfortable with him now, but I wasn't ready to admit something like that.

He took pity on my awkward ass, "Yes, I'll be there for lunch tomorrow."

I managed to contain an undignified squee, but only just. "Okay, me too," I said. "Night." I didn't want to say bye, but I couldn't think of a way to draw this out any longer.

I started to close the door when he stepped out of his side and rounded the car. He moved in close and tugged my collar up higher against the cold wind. "Do you have far to go?"

I shook my head, "Hamilton Township."

"I'll follow you home. Make sure you're okay."

"You don't have to do that, I'll be fine."

"Hey, security is my job. I'm heading to Trenton anyway, I want to make sure you get home safe."

You know what's funny? I had no problem with that.

He followed me home, walked me to my door, and waited outside until I waved through my window to pull away.

As soon as he was gone I hopped in the shower and slid into bed. Letting myself luxuriate over the fact that I could lay there and think about him, rather than dragging out my textbooks and studying until I fell asleep at my desk. He was soooo much more appealing to think about than organic molecular structure or quantum mechanics. I was proud, though, that I refrained from texting the girls, they had both had dates tonight and at this time of night would have been either far too occupied to return my message or sleeping. Setting up our lunch shift was always far more interesting when we had something good to talk about anyway.

And oh, how interesting it was.

**PSA: Don't let strange men follow you home… unless they're Ranger, then make sure you invite him in afterwards! **

**I'm so happy you guys are liking this. Please keep up the feedback, it pokes the muse up her butt and puts words in my head. **

**Thanks for reading,**

**Love,**

**EA xoxo**

**PS: give me a Let's Go Rangers? Big game tonight!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Holy crap guys, your reviews! Thank you all! I am so happy that you guys are liking this little story.**

**I don't own these characters, but at least the plot is all mine.**

**From last time: **_As soon as he was gone I hopped in the shower and slid into bed. Letting myself luxuriate over the fact that I could lay there and think about him, rather than dragging out my textbooks and studying until I fell asleep at my desk. He was soooo much more appealing to think about than organic molecular structure or quantum mechanics. I was proud, though, that I refrained from texting the girls, they had both had dates tonight and at this time of night would have been either far too occupied to return my message or sleeping. Setting up our lunch shift was always far more interesting when we had something good to talk about anyway._

_And oh, how interesting it was. _

"So he bent me over the sink and made me watch in the mirror and he was all, 'yeah baby, take it and like it.'" Kelly told us, doing a little hip-thrusting physical demonstration. She was talking about her sometimes boyfriend, Mr. Long-Dong, thus dubbed after a conversation we had had about the varying degrees of importance of length and girth. "He's so cheesy," she said with an eye-roll.

"Yes, but he got you off, right?" I asked as I stacked coffee cups on the shelf.

She cackled, "Every damn time." The three of us lost it, laughing until my cheeks hurt. I was mid guffaw when Annemarie elbowed me in the side. I looked up, slowly coming down from my giggle fit. There he was, My Eye-Candy, shrugging out of his jacket, looking our way with a grin on his face.

I headed into the kitchen, grabbed his water and bread and brought it over to him.

"Hello, Ranger."

"Hello, Stephanie." Screw what I said earlier, he could say my name as many times as he wanted. I fucking loved the way it sounded coming out of his sexy mouth.

He was wearing the same uniform as yesterday. "You work on Sundays?" I asked him.

"I work pretty much every day." He pointed to my apron. "Seems like you do too."

"Yeah, well, it's this or sit at home and study. Studying while on spring break is just sad. So, here I am."

He smiled and really caught my eyes. "What about later tonight? You working then?"

_Ummm, was he asking…?_

"Uhhh, I'll probably leave earlier than yesterday."

His smile widened. "Can I take you out later then?"

Is he really asking me out on the one night that I actually have plans?

"I'm, uh, the girls and I have a thing on Sunday nights. I can't."

"I wouldn't want to interfere with that," he laughed, but I could tell he was disappointed. "What about tomorrow? Do you work Mondays too?"

"Nope," I told him. Even if I was working I would make someone switch shifts with me. Every single server here owed me for covering for them.

"Then tomorrow you're mine," he said with enough humor that it didn't stoke my feminist ire. There were, however, other parts of me that were warming up.

"Oh, yeah?"

"If you'd like that," he said, back-pedaling slightly.

"I would."His answering smile was nearly blinding.

I managed to keep the news from the girls until we were flopped on my couch starting on a freshly uncorked bottle of wine.

"Are you kidding me?" Kelly was annoyed with me, I could tell because she biffed me in the forehead. "You _finally _have the chance to get laid and you tell him you have plans with us? What the fuck, Stephanie?"

"He asked me if I was busy tonight, not if I wanted to fuck him. I'll never be the type to dump my friends for a guy."

Annemarie shook her head, disgustedly. "No really, we couldn't give a shit less. You need to go get in the shower, shave your legs and bush and call him up. The way he was looking at you today, he wants you, Steph. Believe me, he's not going to say no to you."

"I can't just call him up and invite him over for sex! What do I say, 'hey baby, wanna come over here and glaze the doughnut?'"

Kelly choked on her moscato, "No! Tell him you want him to jam your clam!"

"Wait! Tell him you want him to spray paint your cervix!" Rie chimed in.

Those had to have been the most disgusting euphemisms for sex I'd ever heard. "Why am I friends with you two?"

Kelly slumped her head on my shoulder, still cackling like mad. "Because your life would suck otherwise."

"You're right," I agreed with a sigh.

She sighed and giggled some more, "Look, once you get him over here, you'll know what to do. Just promise me that you'll do something with him? You really do deserve it, right?" I nodded. "And what is it I always say?

She waited for me and Rie, and we all three said, "No one drives all the way to Disneyland to sit in the parking lot; you get your ass out of the car and hop on the best damn ride in there!"

More dirty laughter ensued. I had the best friends in the world, I really did.

I watched suspiciously as Annemarie hopped up and headed into my bedroom, listening as I heard my dresser drawers opening and closing. She came out a minute later, smirking and shrugging her jacket on. "We're going to go now and you're going to call him and tell him you're hearing noises outside your window and you need his big, strong, security guard body to come guard yours." She yanked Kelly off the couch by her hand and dragged her to the door.

I followed them, "I'm not going to lie to him."

"Steph, he'll take any excuse to come over here, just give him one. And, I left what you should wear on the bed." Rie said, more serious now. "We've been watching you work your ass off for forever and the only fun you let yourself have is Sunday nights when we come over here and watch shirtless men on TV. Call him, see a real live shirtless man right here in your apartment and have him make your eyes roll back in your head. He looks like he would know how to do that. You don't have to marry the guy."

You know what? They were right, I did need it. It'd been so freaking long since I had had any kind of sex with another person, I was beginning to forget what it felt like. "Fine I'll call him, okay?"

They squeed and hugged me. After promising some of the details I shooed them out the door and got myself showered and shaved soft and smooth.

I was sitting on my bed, wrapped in a towel, because I was too chickenshit to put on the outfit Rie had left out for me. I grabbed my phone and gathered my courage, debating the merits of a text versus a phone call. A text would be really cowardly, right? If I was going to do this, I should just suck it up and dial his number, he probably wouldn't pick up anyway and I could just leave a voicemail and I wouldn't look desperate, right?

_Shit._

I sucked in a breath and tapped his name on the screen.

Yes, I'd already put his info in my phone, don't judge me.

It rang, and rang, and rang again and just when I was resigned, and relieved, to let it go to voicemail, he answered. "Hello." His deep voice doing delicious things to me even over the phone.

This is why it sucks to be single, these horrible, nerve wracking, do-you-like-me phone calls. I swallowed down my nervousness and tried to sound like I wasn't shaking in my towel. "Hi, it's Stephanie… Plum… from Tarrantino's."

He was silent for a beat. "Hello?" I asked, wondering if he'd hung up.

"Yeah, I'm here," he said, a big smile in his voice. "I was just waiting for you to launch into a description: 5'5", 125lbs, brown curly hair, pretty blue eyes... Babe, I knew it was you before I answered."

I rolled my eyes and laughed a little. It was strangely comforting that he had put my name to my number on his phone too. And the fact that he underestimated my weight by 5 pounds made him completely perfect.

I bit my lip and got it over with. "So, my girls kind of left me hanging and I have this huge pizza I brought home from work that I'll never be able to finish. I was wondering if you'd want to come over and help me?"

"Yeah, I can do that," he replied. "When do you want me there?"

_A month ago?_

"Whenever," I said faux-breezily. "You don't have to rush."

"I'll be there in a few."

"Oh! Okay." I hadn't expected that. "Bye."

"Babe." And he hung up.

_Shit!_

As I went to lock the phone I noticed a missed text from Annemarie

_**Look in your nightstand drawer, I left a gift for you, and Eye-Candy too I guess. It's the black and gold box next to BOB ;-) **_

With some trepidation, I reached over and slowly pulled the drawer open. There, right next to my trusty vibrator, (ugh, which my friend had gotten an eyeful of!) was a box of condoms, Magnums too! You know, the condoms for guys who are hung like porn stars?

_God, I hope they fit him… to look like him and have a tiny penis would be a Shakespearean level tragedy. _

Not that I thought we were going to have sex tonight, but I really, really wanted to. _Really._

I was still sitting here in a towel with dripping wet hair and staring at the outfit Rie had laid out. While cute, they were summer pajamas. Super-short shorts and a tank top to match that was so strappy and low-cut in the back that a bra was not possible. No way did I have the guts to wear that top in front of him… yet. The shorts would work okay with a t-shirt. I slipped them on and tried to tame my rat's nest of hair, a useless endeavor. I was contemplating going through my rarely used makeup bag when I heard a tap on the door.

Stifling an internal shriek at what I'm sure I looked like, I opened the door to him. Jesus Christ, how was he even better looking now than when I saw him a few hours ago? He stood a good six and a bit feet tall of solid perfection, smelling fucking delicious and rocking that five o'clock shadow. Catapulting my brain into imagining what it would feel like on various parts of me. His full lips were tipped up slightly in the corners and his eyes were taking me in in much the same way mine must've been.

"Hi." I said, suddenly bashful, now that I'd been caught eye-fucking him. "Come in." I stepped back, holding the door for him and he brushed my fingers with his. That one sweet gesture made my heart pound and settled me down all in one. "Go ahead and have a seat, I'm going to throw the pizza in the oven to warm up." He stood inches from me and slid his jacket off his shoulders, making me swallow against the drool that was pooling in my mouth. He was just so fucking overwhelming.

He stepped even closer and reached over my shoulder to hang up his coat on the hook behind me. Leaving his hand against the wall, trapping me in the most gorgeous way.

"Hey," he murmured, then backed away. Good thing too, I don't know if I could handle any more than that for right now.

"I'm just going to…" I pointed to the kitchen and hustled away, I threw the pizza in the oven and stuck my head in the fridge, digging around for a drink. Finding only water and the moscato from earlier I stood straight, about to ask him which he wanted, I found him leaning against the counter. His eyes were fixed on me in that way he had. I held both bottles up, "Which one?"

"Both." He still hadn't looked away, that kind of unflinching attention would've really bothered me from anyone else. He pushed off the counter and stopped right in front of my again. He took both bottles from my hands and set them down on the table. Tugging gently on a strand of hair that was hanging by my ear, he murmured. "You know, this curl never cooperates does it? Every time I've seen you, it's right here, refusing to sit back in your pony tail."

I felt myself flush at his proximity and the realization that he'd been noticing me as much as I'd been fixated on him.

"It never stays where I put it," I whispered.

He stepped in closer and cupped my face and I stopped breathing. "Why did your friends bail, Stephanie?"

_Mmmmmm, I just want to rub myself all over him._

Wait, "What?"

He trapped me with his beautiful, dark eyes. "You said that you had a standing girls' night on Sundays. Why aren't they here?"

"Oh! Ha. They wanted me to call you instead," I blurted. Geez, it was like eye-contact with him was like a dose of truth serum.

His eyebrow arched. "Really? Why?"

"Because, they think I have a crush on you." Seriously? Did I really just say that?

Both eyebrows hiked at that. "Do you?"

I swallowed hard and nodded, whispering, "Yes." I mean at this point it was ridiculously obvious.

"That's really good to hear. I mean, your restaurant is good n' all, but I haven't been coming in there for the last month for the salmon."

"No?"

"No."

"Why then?"

"Because, I think you're completely fascinating and beautiful." He stepped in till he was so close I could feel the warmth of his body. "I want to know you, Babe." His voice had dropped to a panty-meltingly delicious tone.

_Oh. My. God._

He dipped down, I could feel his breath on my lips and I was sure he was about to kiss me, when the stupid motherfucking oven timer went off. I pulled back, "Let me just get that before it burns." I grabbed the dishtowel off the counter and slid the pizza out of the oven. "Shit!" The towel must've been wet and the heat from the tray immediately seared my fingers. I dropped the damn thing and shook my hand off, like that was going to help.

"Here," he steered me to the sink, "Run it under cool water." He turned the faucet on and held my hand under the water. Feeling him against my back was making me feel a lot better than any cool water could. I may have even relaxed a bit back into him. You know, for maximum therapeutic benefit.

The way we fit together was… nice. I could feel his stomach moving with his breath and the buckle of his belt and _him _pressing into my lower back.

_Oh, those condoms are so going to fit him… Huh, my fingers are all better already._

"Better?" He asked after a minute. His exhalation tickling my ear and neck.

I nodded, "Mmmhmmm." He gently trailed his fingers up my arm and turned me to face him.

We fit even better this way.

He looked down at the ruined pizza on the floor. "I don't think we can salvage that."

I shook my head in agreement. "Nope."

"Did you blister?" He took my hand and brought it close to his face. "It looks red, but I think you dropped it before you did any real damage." He held my eyes as he brought my fingertips to his lips and I watched completely hypnotized as he kissed them. A bolt of pure heat shot up my arm and down my spine, making my nipples instantly shrink and everything between my thighs ache.

_Enough, already._

I tugged my hands from his and grabbed his face, tiptoeing up, I kissed him, full on the mouth, and oh my god, did he kiss me back. His arms wrapped around my waist and he backed me against the wall. Every inch of the front of me touching him. I nearly melted when I felt his tongue slide into my mouth. I could feel him, hot and hardening through his pants and the only thing I could think of was feeling it in my hand, or better yet, inside me. I shifted so I rubbed against his erection and he fucking _moaned _into my mouth. I started tugging on his shirt, pulling it out of his pants when his fingers clamped around my wrists. "I can't believe I'm going to say this," he said against my forehead, gravelly rough, "but slow down, Babe."

I groaned and let my head thunk back against the wall, trying really hard to get my breathing under control. He backed away and started cleaning up the pizza massacre. I shook myself lucid and grabbed the paper towels and joined him, it was my fault after all. He scooped up most of the mess and chucked it in the garbage as I kneeled and scrubbed at the sauce and cheese still globbed on the floor.

"Shit!" He muttered. I turned around to see him staring at the space my ass had just occupied. "Those are really short, Babe," he said in answer to my questioning look. I felt around and realized how right he was, my shorts might have been an inch longer than panties alone would've been. With my ass up in the air, he had probably gotten quite the eyeful. I grinned at him and went back to work. A quick peek over my shoulder confirmed that he was still staring at my behind.

I got the last bit of sauce wiped up and stood, feeling very pleased at the look on his face. "You okay?" He swallowed hard and nodded. Grabbing some glasses and the wine, I led the way into the living room and nodded to the couch. "Sit, relax." He sat and I plonked myself down cross-legged facing him. His eyes immediately falling on my legs. Fine, Kelly and Rie were right when they said he wanted me. I cleared my throat and his eyes flew to mine, his face a little sheepish. "If you were really hungry, I could order another pizza." I told him, handing him a glass of wine.

He laughed and shook his head, "No, I'm fine. I thought when we got through lunch today without any calamities occurring that our luck was improving. After that," he nodded towards the kitchen, "I don't want to tempt fate and have something else happen." He took my hand and examined my fingers again.

"They're okay," I told him. He kissed them again and laid our clasped hands on my bare knee, his thumb tracing tiny circles on the sensitive skin there.

_Isn't it crazy how the tiniest of touches can make you feel like you're on fire?_

**I know, leaving it here is just cruel, but I have to finish the rest of it and here was the only good place to cut it off. It's been another crazy week for me and I got very little writing done. Mainly due to fact that my little walking petrie dish gave me his awful cold and I was laying on the couch all day Tuesday and Wednesday, which led to a minor case of writer's block and finally discovering the Outlander TV adaptation. That, then led to me cheating on Ranger with Jamie Fraser. Then my mind started trying to find plotlines that would somehow get Ranger into a kilt and needless to say I didn't get shit done. **

**If you haven't watched it yet, please take a minute to at least google him. Sam Heughan, the actor that plays Jamie, in only a kilt (and without the kilt) is a thing of pure beauty. As my lovely sister says, we should send his mother a thank-you card. But, you'll be doing yourself a disservice if you only look at pictures, he's a very easy to love character. Brave, sexy, strong… Scottish. As an expat Brit, good lord, that man's accent is so damn delicious. **

**Anyway, I wanted to give you this while I work on Inconceivable's next chapter, and finish out this "date" for these two.**

**Hope you liked it. Let me know, please? I love your feedback more than you can imagine.**

**Thanks for reading,**

**Love,**

**EA xoxo**


	4. Chapter 4

**I tried to finish this completely, but really struggled at the end. I'm going to switch POV's for the next update. I really think that'll help, this feels so one-sided to me. **

**But I did want to give you something for the weekend, so, there's some smutty good stuff at the bottom. **

**The next update of Inconceivable won't be until next week, it involves quite a bit of research, and I'm taking my time to make it as accurate as possible. :) **

_F_**rom last time: **_"They're okay," I told him. He kissed them again and laid our clasped hands on my bare knee, his thumb tracing tiny circles on the sensitive skin there. _

_Isn't it crazy how the tiniest of touches can make you feel like you're on fire?_

I took a deep breath and tried to ignore the way he was making me feel. "So, why security?" I asked, tracing my finger over the embroidered emblem on his left chest.

_Mmmmm, he was so… Solid._

"A paycheck," he shrugged. "We do a little bond enforcement too, some sub-contracting for various agencies. It's what I'm good at." His thumb circled more firmly. "What about you? What's after college?"

"Med school, for sure. After that I don't know, I'm leaning towards research."

"Brains and beauty? You're the total package, babe."

I flushed again and felt a little tongue-tied. Compliments always made me feel awkward.

"You know what? I have some fruit in the fridge, let me just grab that."

Yes, I'm also a bit of a coward.

I kneeled up, unfolding my legs to stand, when the squashy couch cushion gave and I fell forward, straight into his chest. My face half an inch from his.

"I'm starting to think you're doing this on purpose," he murmured right before he closed that tiny bit of space and kissed me, dragging me into his lap.

_Mmmmhmm, me too._

My god, he was good at that. You know how sometimes it feels like a guy is trying to suck on your uvula? Like they think they need to shove their tongue so far in your mouth that they're checking out your gag reflex, but they just end up slobbering all over you? Yeah, there was none of that here. Just pure, delicious oh-my-God-I-could-to-do-this-for-hours need. It was everything, the way his hands stayed just shy of anywhere really, really fun, the way the tiny rasp of his stubble rubbed against my chin, and the small vibration of his moans against my lips were setting me on fire, again. My physical reaction to this contact was almost scarily intense. There was only one other place on my body that I wanted to feel his tongue more and I was way too chickenshit to ask for it.

His hand slid under the back of my t-shirt and I groaned at feeling his warm bare skin on mine. Suddenly dying to feel more of him, I pulled back and started to tug his shirt off. This time he let me. What was revealed to me as I peeled that shirt off of him, was a vision I will remember to my deathbed. He was breathing a little bit heavily, his eyes were black and his mouth was kiss swollen and slightly open. Every single muscle of his shoulders, arms, chest and abdomen was clearly defined and covered with the smoothest, firmest skin.

I was straddling a god and it very much looked like he was enjoying his view as much as I was enjoying mine. I can't tell you what an ego boost that was.

"I don't know where to touch first!" I whispered. "You're so gorgeous."

His fingers slid into my hair, loosening my pony tail until it was all poofed out and wild. "Yeah? So are you, Steph."

I ran my hands slowly up his belly, loving that each muscle would contract slightly as I passed over it, marveling that _I _could affect _him _like that. His fingers tightened and he tugged me back to his mouth, that magic tongue making me squirm against him. He eased back until he was lying down on my squashy old sofa, never letting go of my lips.

"Do you have any idea how long it's been for me?" I murmured between kisses. "I want you so fucking much."

"You got me, Babe. Whatever you want." He answered, kissing his way down my throat.

I shifted against him, the tip of his clothed cock rubbing the length of the seam of my shorts. One of us moaned, long and loud, probably me. I did it again and realized that it wouldn't take much more than that to make me come. I could already feel the coil tightening. But I also knew that I didn't want to do this on my threadbare couch. I kissed him one more time, getting lost in him for a beat, before slowly standing. He sat as I moved away, looking a question at me. I held my hand out to him, "Come with me?" I asked quietly. His eyes darkened even more and he stood, following me, his hand still in mine, down the short hallway to my bedroom.

I stopped in the doorway, my earlier bravado vanishing. He snugged his body behind me again. The warmth of him soaking through the thin cotton of my shirt. "What do you want, Babe?" He murmured in my ear. "You said you wanted me, what do you want me to do?" His hand was at my waist, his fingers gently playing with the drawstring of my shorts, his other, softly squeezing my upper thigh.

I sucked in a breath, I'd never been that good at talking my way through sex. Sure every woman could do the, "More… Harder… Deeper," chant. But, actually telling this man that I wanted to see him completely naked, with his gorgeous face buried between my legs, or oh god, in any number of positions fucking me as hard as he could, took significantly more ovaries than I possessed.

He must've sensed my sudden nerves and he squeezed me gently. "Tell me, Babe, I want to hear it."

"Take off your pants," I breathed, "I want to see you." He was so close behind me that I felt his cock twitch through his pants and his breath hitch when I said that. His heightened excitement at the expression of my desire, made any remaining anxiety I had float away.

I turned to face him, staying just far enough away that I could watch his long fingers work his belt. My eyes flicking between his face and the beginning of a mouthwatering happy trail he had revealed. Before he could bend to untie his boots, I kneeled down and tugged the strings loose. It took a solid thirty seconds of staring at his lower abdomen to realize that there was no underwear waistband obscuring my view. I looked up at his face. He was looming over me, his eyes feral and dark, belying the gentle way his fingertips were touching my cheeks.

I reached up and pushed back the two sides of his fly, slowly lowering the zipper. Up close he smelled so damn good, even right here, like expensive soap with a hint of musk. I leaned in closer still and he let out a half-moan. Kissing the skin just under his belly-button, I smoothed my hands up his solid thighs, over his hips and let my fingers slip under the loosened waistband at his lower back. I pushed down and lowered his pants, drawing out the moment when I finally saw what already felt to be a well sized cock. It wasn't until I got his pants past his perfectly squeezable ass that his dick was freed, it swung out heavy and hard and I had to bite my lip to stifle the whimper I wanted to let out. He was longer and thicker than BOB and I didn't even usually penetrate myself with it. I knew that the vagina had an incredible capacity for stretching and lengthened nearly double when a woman becomes aroused, but I still had to wonder if he was going to fit. Logistically it looked, I wasn't going to say impossible, but difficult. I was definitely going to do my best to find out though.

I only meant to kiss the tip of him before standing, but the skin of the head was so smooth and firm, like silk over steel, I couldn't help but linger there. Those gentle fingers slid into my hair and he let out a strangled groan. I looked at him as I opened wide. Unable to take too much in, I closed my lips around the head and rubbed against the frenum with my tongue. He gasped and let his head fall back, resetting his feet wider so he didn't fall.

_Huh, what do you know, Kelly was right when she said I would be just fine looking at his other head!_

"Wait, Babe," he said, slowly pulling himself out of my mouth. "Come up here." His fingers curled under my arms and he tugged upwards till I was standing in front of him. "You need to catch up."

I kept his eyes as I pulled my top off, the heat inside me multiplying exponentially as his mouth dropped open the higher I pulled it. The only good enough reason to break eye contact with him was the opportunity to touch him again, so I shoved it over my head as quickly as possible. He quickly stepped out of his boots and then the pants were gone and I had to take a second to shake my head.

I had the man I had been lusting after for a solid month, gloriously naked, standing next to my bed. And, as someone who has studied and aced Anatomy and Physiology believe me, he was almost too perfect to comprehend. I stepped closer, placing one hand on his chest, feeling the thumping of his heart under my palm.

I reached back and unsnapped my bra, his eyes immediately heading south. His hand traced up my arm, ending at my shoulder, his thumb slipping under my bra-strap. "Can I?" He asked quietly, his other hand mimicking. I nodded and he slipped the bra off, sucking in a breath in the process.

Okay, there are two things that I really like about my body, well, three I guess. I have what I think is a cute nose and a pretty good set of tatas. I was a full c-cup that were still high and firm enough that I rarely felt the need to embellish with a push-up bra. My nipples were usually pretty perky and I'd received enough compliments on the girls that I was sure I wasn't alone in my opinion. The way he was staring at them, like he was committing them to memory, was beyond the kind of attention they'd ever received before.

He stepped into that last foot of space, his body so close to mine that every time I took a breath my nipples would graze against his warm skin. His fingers gently traced my back from my shoulder blades to my waist, the very tips slipping under the waistband of the shorts, brushing the top of my ass.

_How can you burn inside and still shiver?_

"These too?" He asked, opening his fingers wide, pushing the elastic away from my body.

I nodded, not even the slightest bit shy anymore, but my cheeks were flushed so hot I was probably glowing. There was no embarrassment either, just bone deep desire. I could not remember ever being so turned on by another person before. I had been right when I said he was overwhelming. It wasn't an uncomfortable feeling though. There was something very liberating in the absolute trust he inspired in me.

He slowly pushed my shorts and panties down, stopping to rub gently at the crease between buttock and thigh then lightly cupping each cheek. "Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to do this?" He groaned in my ear, squeezing harder. "Touch you here? The first time I saw you, you bent over to pick up a fork, right in front of me. I wanted to do this then." He kissed me again, his tongue stroking against mine so perfectly, my heart pounding. The idea that he had been as attracted to me as I was to him was intoxicating, that dizzy, swoony feeling in my head chasing away all thoughts except for him and me and what was about to happen in this room.

I shimmied my legs to get rid of my shorts and kicked them impatiently aside, needing to be totally unencumbered before him. He broke the kiss, bringing his hand to my face, stoking his knuckles gently down my cheek, my throat, the slope of my chest and breast. Pausing there he circled my nipple, hardening it further, making me ache. "You are stunning, Babe. So fucking beautiful," he whispered.

His fingers kept moving downward, stopping to cup my hip, his thumb rubbing the ridge of bone to the top of my thigh, making my mouth go dry. Grabbing his face, I dragged his lips to mine again, needing an anchor so I didn't float away. I was no shy young virgin, but goddamn if I could remember ever feeling like this before. On fire, but shivering; present, but drifting.

That thumb of his moved lower still, smoothing over super-sensitive freshly shaved skin. He deepened the kiss and turned his hand to drag his blunt short nails through the small patch of hair left there, a satisfied hum vibrating his lips. My head involuntarily dropped back when those fingers finally made it to my lips, slick with juices, beyond ready for him to touch me.

"Hmmm," he hummed again, "You're so wet." A single finger slipped between slick skin and easily found my clit, stiff and throbbing with wanting him. He circled it once and slid that finger inside me, my knees giving at the sudden delicious intrusion. Next thing I knew my back was against the wall and my knee was crooked over his elbow, his mouth fastened to mine, the wet tip of his cock, rhythmically rubbing my hip, his finger still working my pussy. The thrust of his tongue in my mouth conjuring images of what it would feel like significantly lower on my body. His lips broke from mine, working their way down my throat. He ducked and licked at my nipple, making me cry out and grab his shoulders for balance, despite the cool plaster at my back holding me up. He sucked it in deep, his teeth just barely palpable at the very tip. "You taste so good, Babe." He murmured, switching breasts. Between his magical finger inside me and the thumb that'd started a gorgeous circling of my clit and his soft, wet mouth, I was going to fall apart in less than a minute. I was ready to beg.

"Please?" I whispered.

His eyes snapped up to me, "Please, what?" His breath blew across the moisture he had left on my nipple, making it harden almost painfully.

I bit my lip, why was this so hard to ask for? "Kiss me lower?" He arched a brow and a sly grin appeared.

His fingers slipped out of me and he moved his mouth to the underbelly of my breast, placing a sucking kiss there. "Here?"

I groaned because that was fucking awesome too, but shook my head.

"How about here?" He asked, kissing the skin over my ribs and down to the curve of my waist.

Oh! That was nice too, but shook my head again.

His grin widened, and he dropped fully to his knees, placing my knee over his shoulder he raised a quizzical eyebrow to me. "Here then?" He tilted his head to the right and placed an open mouthed kiss in that same juncture where thigh met hip. The same one that he had teased with his thumb.

I was fully exposed to him now, but the only thing I could feel was need. Like earlier in the kitchen, I had reached a point when I was done with the teasing. I pulled one hand from his shoulder and slid my fingers into his thick, silky hair, gently guiding his mouth to where I really wanted him. "Please Ranger, lick me?" My voice so much stronger now. The effect of my words was electric. That wild look darkened his eyes again and all the playfulness was gone, it seemed like every muscle in his body coiled a little bit tighter, his cock twitched and bounced, standing proudly upward. He trapped me with those eyes as he leaned forward, his hand cupping my ass cheek, pressing me closer still. He kissed my mound, making my standing leg wobble, and then I felt him, he snaked his tongue out and slid it through my folds. I couldn't have kept my eyes open if I tried, I slumped back against the wall, clutching his head to me like a lifeline, moaning so loud my neighbors could probably hear me. He hummed against me and slid his hand up the back of my left thigh, hitching that leg over his shoulder too. Okay, this was a first for me. I was actually sitting on his shoulders while he licked and sucked at my clit. His hand on my ass rotating so his fingers could get in the mix. I nearly screamed then as two of them slid inside and he flattened his tongue, licking at the underside of that unbelievably sensitive nub. "Are you going to come for me, Stephanie?"

"Yes," I hissed, looking down at his gorgeous face, digging my hands deeper into his hair. That, right there, that image, that's exactly what I wanted. He had pulled his mouth away, just millimeters from my aching pussy, his fingers moving faster, his eyes were serious and dark and so fucking sexy, seemingly taking in my reactions to his touch. "Please don't stop." I begged. He watched me for a second longer and bent his head, licking again, more firmly this time, seeming to unerringly know exactly what to do to make me shatter. I did scream this time, it was just too much and not enough, holding him tight, rocking my hips, and probably suffocating him. I came so hard my toes curled and every muscle in my body clamped down and then released in the most deliciously agonizing way. I felt him smile against my thigh, he kissed me there, then laid a gentle kiss right on top of my clit, making me jump in my state of hyper-sensitivity.

Slowly stroking my thighs, he guided them off his shoulders and stood, holding my hips and grinning like a cat that got the cream. "You okay?" I nodded, still too winded to speak yet. I grabbed his face and heedless to the moisture on his lips and chin, I kissed him. Pushing my tongue into his mouth, sliding it against his, I reached down and stroked his thick cock. He tensed and leaned his forehead to mine, breathing deep. "Do you have protection?" He groaned as I pumped him. "I didn't bring anything with me… unh… I didn't think that this would… fuck, if I don't get inside you soon, I'm going to explode."

I smiled then and peeled myself off the wall, slipping out from under him. With my legs as wobbly as a new born foal, I crossed the three feet to my bed. Opening the drawer and pulling out the box, I caught his raised brow and slight smirk. "I told you, Rie and Kelly really wanted me to call you."

"Remind me to thank them," he chuckled darkly. He took the box out of my hand and ripped it open, placing two condoms on the table and putting the rest away.

_Two?_

He turned to face me then, pacing forward, all litheness and muscle, like a big, beautiful jungle cat.

_Oh god, this was going to be so good._

**Yes it will Ms. Plum!**

**Yay! We'll finally hear what's going on in that head of his, soonish. It sucks that I have to work at my actual job this weekend. Stupid bills.**

**Let me know what you thought.**

**Reviews are love and love makes me write faster!**

**Love,**

**EA xoxo**


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